Company hopes to install powerlines – Open house draws questions from public

A public open house held early Thursday morning at the Bowling Green High School Auditorium produced many questions from local land owners. The subject of the open house, Grain Belt Express Clean Line, could change the Pike County skyline in upcoming years.

Grain Belt Express is a proposed 700-mile overhead high-voltage direct current (HVDC) power line through the states of Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana.

According to information provided by the company, the line will deliver 3,500 megawatts of “low-cost renewable power” from Kansas to several states east of it.

Similar projects enveloped under the Clean Line name include Rock Island, Centennial West, and Plains & Eastern.

“The transmission project represents an approximately $600 million investment in Missouri,” said Diana Rivera, Project Development Manager at Clean Line Energy. “Over the long term, each county that hosts the transmission line in Missouri will see a significant increase in property tax revenues that will benefit schools, fire departments and other county services used by local residents.”

A Clean Line representative at the meeting Thursday said the company’s goal is to make its way east from the wind farms in Kansas, while keeping the power lines as close to already existing line paths as possible, thus creating the least intrusion.

The full story, complete with instructions to view area projected maps, is available in the Aug. 14 edition of the Bowling Green Times.